Enhanced wi-fi sensing measurement setup and sensing trigger frame for responder-to-responder sensing

ABSTRACT

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices related to responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing between station devices. A device may cause to send, during a trigger frame sounding phase of a responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing, a sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame to the first station device and the second station device, the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame associated with causing the first station device to send a responder-to-responder null data packet (NDP) to the second station device; cause to send, during a reporting phase of the responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing, a sensing report trigger frame to the second station device; and identify, during the reporting phase, a sensing measurement report from the second station device based on the sensing report trigger frame, wherein the sensing measurement report is indicative of measurements of the responder-to-responder NDP.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for wireless communications and, more particularly, to enhancements to Wi-Fi sensing.

BACKGROUND

Wireless devices are becoming widely prevalent and are increasingly requesting access to wireless channels. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is developing one or more standards that utilize Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) in channel allocation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment using responder-to-responder (R2R) Wi-Fi sensing, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 depicts an example process for using R2R Wi-Fi sensing, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 depicts an example process for the sensing measurement setup phase for the process of FIG. 2 for using R2R Wi-Fi sensing, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example diagram of a process for using R2R Wi-Fi sensing, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station that may be suitable for use as a user device, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine upon which any of one or more techniques (e.g., methods) may be performed, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a radio architecture in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example front-end module circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 7 , in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example radio IC circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 7 in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example baseband processing circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 7 , in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, algorithm, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.

The IEEE 802.11 technical standards define wireless communications, including the use of Wi-Fi sensing. For example, the 802.11bf standard defines Wi-Fi sensing applicable to radar-like applications such as detecting motion in a room or detecting when a person approaches a target device. Sensing is performed by tracking channel estimates obtained when decoding multiple Wi-Fi packets over time and detecting variations that indicate an event of interest.

While a typical Wi-Fi sensing scenario generally occurs between an access point (AP) and one or more non-AP stations (STAs), and a sensing physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) transmission is either from an AP to one or more non-AP STAs, or from one or more non-AP STA to an AP (i.e., typical downlink sensing or uplink sensing), non-AP STA to non-AP STA sensing (e.g., responder-to-responder sensing) has not yet been enabled by the 802.11 standards.

In 802.11bf, future sensing between two non-AP STAs may use a trigger-based (TB) sensing measurement instance where an AP is the sensing initiator, and two non-AP STAs are sensing responders. As a result, this type of sensing is referred to as responder-to-responder (R2R) sensing in 802.11bf. However, no specific proposals have been contributed to defining the enabling protocol to support R2R sensing in a TB sensing measurement instance.

Currently 802.11bf defines the R2R sensing as part of a TB sensing measurement scenario. Therefore, R2R sensing is currently coordinated by an AP, which is a sensing initiator, and the two non-AP STAs are both sensing initiators. The corresponding Measurement Setup ID uniquely identifies a measurement setup with an R2R sensing. Therefore, when initiating the sensing measurement setup with the two non-AP STA sensing responders, the AP assigns the sensing transmitter or sensing receiver role to each of them. However, currently the role assignment is designed only for regular downlink (DL) sensing or uplink (UL) sensing.

The present disclosure provides changes to the existing 802.11bf sensing measurement setup protocol and TB sensing measurement instance protocol, as well the Sensing Trigger frame, so that R2R sensing can be achieved with the existing protocol flow.

In one or more embodiments, the Sensing Measurement Parameters element within a Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame may add a subfield to indicate whether the Sensing Transmitter or Sensing Receiver role is for a R2R sensing scenario.

In one or more embodiments, the Passive Sounding Ranging Trigger frame of the 802.11 standards may be reused as a Sensing R2R Sounding Trigger frame to enable an AP to solicit R2R null data packet (NDP) transmissions from a non-AP STA assigned as a sensing transmitter. The R2R NDP may use the high efficiency (HE) Ranging NDP (e.g., defined by 802.11az and using the HE single-user PPDU format) instead of the HE TB Ranging NDP (e.g., defined by 802.11az and using the HE TB PPDU format). The non-AP STA assigned as the sensing receiver may perform measurements using the received R2R NDP.

In one or more embodiments, by reusing the existing sensing measurement setup and TB sensing measurement instance, minimal changes are needed, avoiding a separate protocol. By reusing the existing Passive Sounding Ranging Trigger frame, the solicited R2R NDP transmission uses the single user (SU) PPDU format instead of the TB PPDU format, enabling the sensing receiver to receive and decode the R2R NDP.

In one or more embodiments, the interpretations of the roles in an R2R sensing scenario will be different as follows. In a regular non-R2R sensing scenario, the sensing transmitter for a non-AP STA indicates in a TB sensing measurement instance that it needs to transmit a R2I NDP to the AP, whereas the sensing receiver for a non-AP STA indicates in a TB sensing measurement instance it needs to receive the I2R NDP from the AP. However, in a R2R sensing scenario, the sensing transmitter for a non-AP STA indicates in a TB sensing measurement instance that it needs to transmit R2R NDP to another non-AP STA, whereas the sensing receiver for a non-AP STA indicates in a TB sensing measurement instance that it needs to receive the R2R NDP from another non-AP STA. Because of these interpretation differences, an additional subfield may be added in the Sensing Measurement Parameters element within the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame to indicate whether the assigned sensing transmitter/receiver role is for R2R scenario or not. A proposal is shown below in Tables 1-3.

Table 1 Sensing Measurement Setup Request Frame Action Field Format Category Public Action Dialog Token Measurement Setup ID DMG Sensing Measurement Setup Element Sensing Measurement Parameters Element Octets 1 1 1 TBD TBD TBD

Table 2 Sensing Measurement Parameters Element Format Element ID Length Element ID Extension Sensing Measurement Parameters TBD Octets 1 1 1 TBD TBD

Table 3 Changes to Sensing Measurement Parameters Field Format Sensing Transmitter Sensing Receiver R2R Sensing Measurement Report Measurement Report Type TBD Bits 1 1 1 TBD TBD TBD

In one or more embodiments, the new R2R subfield in the Sensing Measurement Parameters Field format as shown in Table 3 may indicate whether the Sensing Transmitter or Sensing Receiver for the corresponding measurement setup is for R2R sensing or not. It is set to 1 if it is for R2R sensing.

In one or more embodiments, when establishing the measurement setup with the two non-AP STAs, the AP may ensure the sensing parameters, including bandwidth (BW), number of spatial streams (SS), number of long training fields (LTFs), etc., are within both STAs’ capabilities. For example, if one STA supports 160 MHz, but another STA only supports 40 MHz, the AP may not set the sensing BW to be more than 40 MHz.

In one or more embodiments, to reuse the Passive Sounding Ranging Trigger frame as the Sensing R2R Sounding Trigger frame, a bit (e.g., bit B4) in the Trigger Dependent Common Info subfield for the Ranging Trigger variant may serve as the flag differentiation between Ranging Trigger variant and Sensing Trigger variant. Table 4 below shows the modification to the Ranging Trigger frame format to indicate that the Trigger frame is a Ranging or Sensing Trigger frame variant. Table 5 below shows how a new flag may be used to differentiate between the Ranging and Sensing Trigger frame variants.

Table 4 Changes to Trigger Type Subfield Encoding Trigger Type subfield value Trigger frame variant 8 Ranging/Sensing 9-15 Reserved

Table 5 Changes to Trigger Dependent Common Info Subfield Format for Ranging Trigger Variant B0 B3 B4 B5 B7 Ranging/Sensing Trigger Subtype Ranging/Sensing Token Bits 4 1 3

In one or more embodiments, the Passive Sounding Ranging Trigger subvariant may be reused as the Sensing R2R Sounding Trigger subvariant using the encoding changes below in Table 6.

Table 6 Changes to Ranging Trigger Subtype Subfield Encoding Ranging/Sensing Trigger Subtype field value Ranging/Sensing Trigger frame subvariant 0 Poll 1 Sounding 2 Secure Sounding 3 Report 4 Passive Sounding/R2R Sounding 5-15 Reserved

In one or more embodiments, Table 7 below shows changes to the User Info field format for the Sensing R2R Sounding subvariant.

Table 7 Changes to User Info Field Format for Sensing R2R Sounding Subvariant AID12/ RSID12 Reserved I2R/R2I/R2R Rep Reserved SS Allocation/ RA-RU Information UL Target Receive Power Reserved Bits 12 9 3 2 6 7 1

In one or more embodiments, R2R sensing within a TB sensing measurement instance may include the following steps. The AP sends a Sensing R2R Sounding Trigger frame to the STA that is assigned as the sensing transmitter (STA1) and the STA that is assigned as the sensing receiver (STA2) for R2R sensing. After receiving a Sensing R2R Sounding Trigger frame, the STA that is assigned as the sensing transmitter (STA1) may transmit R2R NDP using the HE Ranging NDP format (HE SU PPDU format). The STA that is assigned as a sensing receiver performs measurements using the received R2R NDP. If a measurement report is requested in the previous sensing measurement setup, the AP then sends a Sensing Report Trigger frame to STA2 to solicit a sensing measurement report from STA2.

In one or more embodiments, to establish which device is the responding transmitter and which device is the responding receiver for the R2R sensing, a sensing measurement procedure may be used. An AP as the sensing initiator may send a Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame to STA1 to assign STA1 to be the R2R transmitter. STA1 may respond with a Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame confirming that STA1 is to be the R2R transmitter. The AP also may send a Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame to STA2 to assign STA2 to be the R2R receiver. STA2 may respond with a Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame confirming the assignment as the R2R receiver. The Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame may indicate whether the sensing measurement request is for R2R sensing, along with other parameters for the R2R sensing, such as the bandwidth used, and a measurement setup ID so that the Sensing Measurement Setup Request for the R2R transmitter and the Sensing Measurement Setup Request for the R2R responder correspond to the same measurement setup ID for the same R2R sensing process.

The above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting. Numerous other examples, configurations, processes, algorithms, etc., may exist, some of which are described in greater detail below. Example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures.

FIG. 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment 100 using high-bandwidths, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure. Wireless network 100 may include one or more user devices 120 and one or more access points(s) (AP) 102, which may communicate in accordance with IEEE 802.11 communication standards. The user device(s) 120 may be mobile devices that are non-stationary (e.g., not having fixed locations) or may be stationary devices.

In some embodiments, the user devices 120 and the AP 102 may include one or more computer systems similar to that of the functional diagram of FIG. 5 and/or the example machine/system of FIG. 6 .

One or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may be operable by one or more user(s) 110. It should be noted that any addressable unit may be a station (STA). An STA may take on multiple distinct characteristics, each of which shape its function. For example, a single addressable unit might simultaneously be a portable STA, a quality-of-service (QoS) STA, a dependent STA, and a hidden STA. The one or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and the AP(s) 102 may be STAs. The one or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may operate as a personal basic service set (PBSS) control point/access point (PCP/AP). The user device(s) 120 (e.g., 124, 126, or 128) and/or AP(s) 102 may include any suitable processor-driven device including, but not limited to, a mobile device or a non-mobile, e.g., a static device. For example, user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may include, a user equipment (UE), a station (STA), an access point (AP), a software enabled AP (SoftAP), a personal computer (PC), a wearable wireless device (e.g., bracelet, watch, glasses, ring, etc.), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, an ultrabookTM computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, an internet of things (IoT) device, a sensor device, a PDA device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device (e.g., combining cellular phone functionalities with PDA device functionalities), a consumer device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a PCS device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable GPS device, a DVB device, a relatively small computing device, a non-desktop computer, a “carry small live large” (CSLL) device, an ultra mobile device (UMD), an ultra mobile PC (UMPC), a mobile internet device (MID), an “origami” device or computing device, a device that supports dynamically composable computing (DCC), a context-aware device, a video device, an audio device, an A/V device, a set-top-box (STB), a blu-ray disc (BD) player, a BD recorder, a digital video disc (DVD) player, a high definition (HD) DVD player, a DVD recorder, a HD DVD recorder, a personal video recorder (PVR), a broadcast HD receiver, a video source, an audio source, a video sink, an audio sink, a stereo tuner, a broadcast radio receiver, a flat panel display, a personal media player (PMP), a digital video camera (DVC), a digital audio player, a speaker, an audio receiver, an audio amplifier, a gaming device, a data source, a data sink, a digital still camera (DSC), a media player, a smartphone, a television, a music player, or the like. Other devices, including smart devices such as lamps, climate control, car components, household components, appliances, etc. may also be included in this list.

As used herein, the term “Internet of Things (IoT) device” is used to refer to any object (e.g., an appliance, a sensor, etc.) that has an addressable interface (e.g., an Internet protocol (IP) address, a Bluetooth identifier (ID), a near-field communication (NFC) ID, etc.) and can transmit information to one or more other devices over a wired or wireless connection. An IoT device may have a passive communication interface, such as a quick response (QR) code, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, an NFC tag, or the like, or an active communication interface, such as a modem, a transceiver, a transmitter-receiver, or the like. An IoT device can have a particular set of attributes (e.g., a device state or status, such as whether the IoT device is on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, and so on, a cooling or heating function, an environmental monitoring or recording function, a light-emitting function, a sound-emitting function, etc.) that can be embedded in and/or controlled/monitored by a central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor, ASIC, or the like, and configured for connection to an IoT network such as a local ad-hoc network or the Internet. For example, IoT devices may include, but are not limited to, refrigerators, toasters, ovens, microwaves, freezers, dishwashers, dishes, hand tools, clothes washers, clothes dryers, furnaces, air conditioners, thermostats, televisions, light fixtures, vacuum cleaners, sprinklers, electricity meters, gas meters, etc., so long as the devices are equipped with an addressable communications interface for communicating with the IoT network. IoT devices may also include cell phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Accordingly, the IoT network may be comprised of a combination of “legacy” Internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop or desktop computers, cell phones, etc.) in addition to devices that do not typically have Internet-connectivity (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).

The user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may also include mesh stations in, for example, a mesh network, in accordance with one or more IEEE 802.11 standards and/or 3GPP standards.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to communicate with each other via one or more communications networks 130 and/or 135 wirelessly or wired. The user device(s) 120 may also communicate peer-to-peer or directly with each other with or without the AP(s) 102. Any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may include, but not limited to, any one of a combination of different types of suitable communications networks such as, for example, broadcasting networks, cable networks, public networks (e.g., the Internet), private networks, wireless networks, cellular networks, or any other suitable private and/or public networks. Further, any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may have any suitable communication range associated therewith and may include, for example, global networks (e.g., the Internet), metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), or personal area networks (PANs). In addition, any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may include any type of medium over which network traffic may be carried including, but not limited to, coaxial cable, twisted-pair wire, optical fiber, a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) medium, microwave terrestrial transceivers, radio frequency communication mediums, white space communication mediums, ultra-high frequency communication mediums, satellite communication mediums, or any combination thereof.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP(s) 102 may include one or more communications antennas. The one or more communications antennas may be any suitable type of antennas corresponding to the communications protocols used by the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126 and 128), and AP(s) 102. Some non-limiting examples of suitable communications antennas include Wi-Fi antennas, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards compatible antennas, directional antennas, non-directional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patch antennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, omnidirectional antennas, quasi-omnidirectional antennas, or the like. The one or more communications antennas may be communicatively coupled to a radio component to transmit and/or receive signals, such as communications signals to and/or from the user devices 120 and/or AP(s) 102.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform directional transmission and/or directional reception in conjunction with wirelessly communicating in a wireless network. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform such directional transmission and/or reception using a set of multiple antenna arrays (e.g., DMG antenna arrays or the like). Each of the multiple antenna arrays may be used for transmission and/or reception in a particular respective direction or range of directions. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform any given directional transmission towards one or more defined transmit sectors. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform any given directional reception from one or more defined receive sectors.

MIMO beamforming in a wireless network may be accomplished using RF beamforming and/or digital beamforming. In some embodiments, in performing a given MIMO transmission, user devices 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may be configured to use all or a subset of its one or more communications antennas to perform MIMO beamforming.

Any of the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may include any suitable radio and/or transceiver for transmitting and/or receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in the bandwidth and/or channels corresponding to the communications protocols utilized by any of the user device(s) 120 and AP(s) 102 to communicate with each other. The radio components may include hardware and/or software to modulate and/or demodulate communications signals according to pre-established transmission protocols. The radio components may further have hardware and/or software instructions to communicate via one or more Wi-Fi and/or Wi-Fi direct protocols, as standardized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards. In certain example embodiments, the radio component, in cooperation with the communications antennas, may be configured to communicate via 2.4 GHz channels (e.g. 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ax), 5 GHz channels (e.g. 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax), 6 GHz channels and Wi-Fi channels defined in 802.11ax (e.g., Wi-Fi 6E), or 60 GHZ channels (e.g. 802.11ad, 802.11ay). 800 MHz channels (e.g. 802.11ah). The communications antennas may operate at 28 GHz and 40 GHz. It should be understood that this list of communication channels in accordance with certain 802.11 standards is only a partial list and that other 802.11 standards may be used (e.g., Next Generation Wi-Fi, or other standards). In some embodiments, non-Wi-Fi protocols may be used for communications between devices, such as Bluetooth, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) (e.g. IEEE 802.11af, IEEE 802.22), white band frequency (e.g., white spaces), or other packetized radio communications. The radio component may include any known receiver and baseband suitable for communicating via the communications protocols. The radio component may further include a low noise amplifier (LNA), additional signal amplifiers, an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, one or more buffers, and digital baseband.

As used herein, the term “Internet of Things (IoT) device” is used to refer to any object (e.g., an appliance, a sensor, etc.) that has an addressable interface (e.g., an Internet protocol (IP) address, a Bluetooth identifier (ID), a near-field communication (NFC) ID, etc.) and can transmit information to one or more other devices over a wired or wireless connection. An IoT device may have a passive communication interface, such as a quick response (QR) code, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, an NFC tag, or the like, or an active communication interface, such as a modem, a transceiver, a transmitter-receiver, or the like. An IoT device can have a particular set of attributes (e.g., a device state or status, such as whether the loT device is on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, and so on, a cooling or heating function, an environmental monitoring or recording function, a light-emitting function, a sound-emitting function, etc.) that can be embedded in and/or controlled/monitored by a central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor, ASIC, or the like, and configured for connection to an IoT network such as a local ad-hoc network or the Internet. For example, IoT devices may include, but are not limited to, refrigerators, toasters, ovens, microwaves, freezers, dishwashers, dishes, hand tools, clothes washers, clothes dryers, furnaces, air conditioners, thermostats, televisions, light fixtures, vacuum cleaners, sprinklers, electricity meters, gas meters, etc., so long as the devices are equipped with an addressable communications interface for communicating with the IoT network. IoT devices may also include cell phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Accordingly, the IoT network may be comprised of a combination of “legacy” Internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop or desktop computers, cell phones, etc.) in addition to devices that do not typically have Internet-connectivity (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).

In one or more embodiments, the AP 102 and the user devices 120 may exchange frames 140. The frames 140 may include Sensing Measurement frames, such as Sensing Measurement Setup Phase frames, trigger frame (TF) Sounding Phase frames, and Reporting Phase frames used in R2R Wi-Fi sensing. The user devices 120 may exchange R2R Sensing frames with one another as responders, including R2R null data packets (NDPs) used to perform Wi-Fi sensing measurements between sensing responder devices.

It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.

FIG. 2 depicts an example process 200 for using R2R Wi-Fi sensing, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2 , an AP 202 may be a Wi-Fi sensing initiator for R2R sensing in which STA 204 and STA 206 may be the R2R responders. The AP 202, the STA 204, and the STA 206 may use a Sensing Measurement Setup Phase 208 (e.g., as shown in FIG. 3 ) to establish which of the STAs is to be the transmitting responder device in the R2R sensing, and which of the STAs is to be the receiving responder device in the R2R sensing. In the example shown, the STA 204 is the R2R transmitter, and the STA 206 is the R2R receiver. During a Polling Phase 210, the AP 202 may generate and send a Sensing Polling TF 212 to the STAs 204 and 206, and the STAs 204 and 206 may respond with clear-to-send (CTS) frames (e.g., the STA 204 may generate and send a CTS-to-Self 214, and the STA 206 may generate and send a STA-to-Self 216) to respond to the poll.

Still referring to FIG. 2 , the Polling Phase 210 may be followed by a TF Sounding Phase 218 in which the AP 202 may generate and send a Sensing R2R Sounding TF 220 to the STAs 204 and 206 as the Sensing transmitter and receiver, respectively. The Sensing R2R Sounding TF 220 may trigger the STA 204 as the Sensing transmitter to generate and send a R2R NDP 222 to the STA 206 as the Sensing responder. After the TF Sounding Phase 218 may be the Reporting Phase 224 in which the AP 202 may generate and send a Sensing Report TF 226 to STA 206 as the responder device in the R2R sensing. In response to the Sensing Report TF 226, the STA 206 may generate and send a Sensing Measurement Report 228 to the AP 202. The Sensing Measurement Report 228 is defined by 802.11bf and includes sensing measurement results determined by the STA 206 based on the R2R NDP 222. In this manner, rather than the STAs 204 and 206 sending NDPs to the AP 202 to perform the sounding measurements, the STAs 204 and 206 may exchange the R2R NDP 222 and provide the Sensing Measurement Report 228 to the AP 202. The STA 206 may respond to the Sensing Report TF 226 by sending the Sensing Measurement Report 228 when the STA 206 has been previously requested to provide the report in the Sensing Measurement Setup Phase 208 (e.g., as explained further with respect to FIG. 3 ).

In one or more embodiments, the Sensing R2R Sounding TF 220 may reuse the Passive Sounding Ranging TF of 802.11, with the changes shown above in Tables 4-7 to signal that the Trigger Type is Ranging/Sensing, and to differentiate between a Ranging TF and a Sensing TF.

FIG. 3 depicts an example process for the Sensing Measurement Setup Phase 208 for the process 200 of FIG. 2 for using R2R Wi-Fi sensing, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3 , the AP 202 of FIG. 2 may generate and send a Sensing Measurement Setup Request 302 to the STA 204 to request the STA 204 act as the R2R sensing transmitter. The STA 204 may accept the R2R sensing transmitter role and respond with a Sensing Measurement Setup Response 304 to the AP 202. The Sensing Measurement Setup Request 302 may include the Sensing Transmitter and Sensing Receiver fields of Table 3. A 1 in the Sensing Transmitter field indicates that the receiving device (e.g., STA 204) is to be the R2R sensing transmitter, and a 1 in the Sensing Receiver field indicates that the receiving device is to be the R2R sensing receiver. In addition, the R2R field of the Sensing Measurement Setup Request 302 may use a 1 bit to signal that the sensing request is for R2R sensing, and a 0 if the sensing request is for R2I sensing. The Sensing Measurement Setup Request 302 also may indicate the bandwidth in which to perform the R2R sensing, and may include a Measurement Setup ID as shown in Table 1. The Sensing Measurement Setup Response 304 may include the Sensing Transmitter, Sensing Receiver, and R2R fields as shown in Table 3 to confirm acceptance of the R2R sensing and the role of the STA 204 as sensing receiver or transmitter. The Sensing Measurement Setup Response 304 may include the Measurement Setup ID in the Sensing Measurement Setup Request 302, and may confirm or counter-propose a bandwidth.

Still referring to FIG. 3 , the AP 202 may generate and send a Sensing Measurement Setup Request 306 to the STA 206 to request the STA 206 act as the R2R sensing receiver. The STA 206 may accept the R2R sensing receiver role and respond with a Sensing Measurement Setup Response 308 to the AP 202. The Sensing Measurement Setup Request 306 may include the Sensing Transmitter and Sensing Receiver fields of Table 3. A 1 in the Sensing Transmitter field indicates that the receiving device (e.g., STA 206) is to be the R2R sensing transmitter, and a 1 in the Sensing Receiver field indicates that the receiving device is to be the R2R sensing receiver. In addition, the R2R field of the Sensing Measurement Setup Request 306 may use a 1 bit to signal that the sensing request is for R2R sensing, and a 0 if the sensing request is for R2I sensing. The Sensing Measurement Setup Request 306 also may indicate the bandwidth in which to perform the R2R sensing, and may include a Measurement Setup ID as shown in Table 1. The Sensing Measurement Setup Response 308 may include the Sensing Transmitter, Sensing Receiver, and R2R fields as shown in Table 3 to confirm acceptance of the R2R sensing and the role of the STA 206 as sensing receiver or transmitter. The Sensing Measurement Setup Response 308 may include the Measurement Setup ID in the Sensing Measurement Setup Request 306, and may confirm or counter-propose a bandwidth.

In one or more embodiments, as shown in Table 3, the Measurement Report Type in the Sensing Measurement Setup Request 306 may indicate to the R2R sensing receiver to generate the Sensing Measurement Report 228 of FIG. 2 in the Reporting Phase 224.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example diagram of a process 400 for using R2R Wi-Fi sensing, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

At block 402, a device (e.g., the AP 102 of FIG. 1 , AP 202 of FIG. 2 , the enhanced sensing devices 619 of FIG. 6 ) may send, during a polling phase of R2R Wi-Fi sensing, a sensing polling TF to sensing STAs to be the R2R responders, the sensing STAs including a first and second STA (e.g., as shown in FIG. 2 ). The R2R responders may be established during a setup phase as shown in FIG. 3 so that the STAs are assigned R2R transmitter and receiver roles.

At block 404, the device may identify a first CTS received, during the polling phase, from the first STA in response to the sensing polling TF. At block 406, the device may identify a second CTS received, during the polling phase, from the second STA in response to the sensing polling TF.

At block 408, the device may send, during a TF sounding phase of the R2R Wi-Fi sensing, a sensing R2R sounding TF to the first and second STAs. The sensing R2R sounding TF may be used to trigger the first STA as the R2R transmitter to send a R2R NDP to the second STA as the R2R receiver to measure for the sensing operation.

At block 410, the device may cause to send, during a reporting phase of the R2R Wi-Fi sensing, a sensing report TF to the second STA as the R2R receiver. The sensing report TF may be sent to trigger the second STA to send a sensing measurement report to the device based on a prior indication provided during the measurement setup phase. The second STA may perform sensing measurements on the R2R NDP from the first STA.

At block 412, the device may identify, during the reporting phase, a sensing measurement report received from the second STA based on the sensing report TF. The sensing measurement report may include the R2R NDP measurements from the second STA so that the device may initiate the R2R sensing operation without performing measurements or sending any frames to be measured for the sensing.

It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.

FIG. 5 shows a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station 500, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, FIG. 5 illustrates a functional block diagram of a communication station that may be suitable for use as an AP 102 (FIG. 1 ) or a user device 120 (FIG. 1 ) in accordance with some embodiments. The communication station 500 may also be suitable for use as a handheld device, a mobile device, a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a wearable computer device, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device.

The communication station 500 may include communications circuitry 502 and a transceiver 510 for transmitting and receiving signals to and from other communication stations using one or more antennas 501. The communications circuitry 502 may include circuitry that can operate the physical layer (PHY) communications and/or medium access control (MAC) communications for controlling access to the wireless medium, and/or any other communications layers for transmitting and receiving signals. The communication station 500 may also include processing circuitry 506 and memory 508 arranged to perform the operations described herein. In some embodiments, the communications circuitry 502 and the processing circuitry 506 may be configured to perform operations detailed in the above figures, diagrams, and flows.

In accordance with some embodiments, the communications circuitry 502 may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium and configure frames or packets for communicating over the wireless medium. The communications circuitry 502 may be arranged to transmit and receive signals. The communications circuitry 502 may also include circuitry for modulation/demodulation, upconversion/downconversion, filtering, amplification, etc. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 506 of the communication station 500 may include one or more processors. In other embodiments, two or more antennas 501 may be coupled to the communications circuitry 502 arranged for sending and receiving signals. The memory 508 may store information for configuring the processing circuitry 506 to perform operations for configuring and transmitting message frames and performing the various operations described herein. The memory 508 may include any type of memory, including non-transitory memory, for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, the memory 508 may include a computer-readable storage device, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devices and other storage devices and media.

In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may be part of a portable wireless communication device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wireless communication capability, a web tablet, a wireless telephone, a smartphone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, a digital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., a heart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), a wearable computer device, or another device that may receive and/or transmit information wirelessly.

In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may include one or more antennas 501. The antennas 501 may include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas, or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some embodiments, instead of two or more antennas, a single antenna with multiple apertures may be used. In these embodiments, each aperture may be considered a separate antenna. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated for spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result between each of the antennas and the antennas of a transmitting station.

In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may include one or more of a keyboard, a display, a non-volatile memory port, multiple antennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, speakers, and other mobile device elements. The display may be an LCD screen including a touch screen.

Although the communication station 500 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, two or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements of the communication station 500 may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

Certain embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. Other embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device, which may be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storage device may include any non-transitory memory mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a computer-readable storage device may include read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devices, and other storage devices and media. In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may include one or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a machine 600 or system upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussed herein may be performed. In other embodiments, the machine 600 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 600 may operate in the capacity of a server machine, a client machine, or both in server-client network environments. In an example, the machine 600 may act as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environments. The machine 900 may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a wearable computer device, a web appliance, a network router, a switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine, such as a base station. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), or other computer cluster configurations.

Examples, as described herein, may include or may operate on logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangible entities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations when operating. A module includes hardware. In an example, the hardware may be specifically configured to carry out a specific operation (e.g., hardwired). In another example, the hardware may include configurable execution units (e.g., transistors, circuits, etc.) and a computer readable medium containing instructions where the instructions configure the execution units to carry out a specific operation when in operation. The configuring may occur under the direction of the executions units or a loading mechanism. Accordingly, the execution units are communicatively coupled to the computer-readable medium when the device is operating. In this example, the execution units may be a member of more than one module. For example, under operation, the execution units may be configured by a first set of instructions to implement a first module at one point in time and reconfigured by a second set of instructions to implement a second module at a second point in time.

The machine (e.g., computer system) 600 may include a hardware processor 602 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 604 and a static memory 606, some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 608. The machine 600 may further include a power management device 632, a graphics display device 610, an alphanumeric input device 612 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 614 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the graphics display device 610, alphanumeric input device 612, and UI navigation device 614 may be a touch screen display. The machine 600 may additionally include a storage device (i.e., drive unit) 616, a signal generation device 618 (e.g., a speaker), enhanced sensing devices 619, a network interface device/transceiver 620 coupled to antenna(s) 630, and one or more sensors 628, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, or other sensor. The machine 600 may include an output controller 634, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, a card reader, etc.)). The operations in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure may be carried out by a baseband processor. The baseband processor may be configured to generate corresponding baseband signals. The baseband processor may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with the hardware processor 602 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the main memory 604, the storage device 616, and/or the enhanced sensing device 619. The baseband processor may be provided on a single radio card, a single chip, or an integrated circuit (IC).

The storage device 916 may include a machine readable medium 622 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 624 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein. The instructions 624 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 604, within the static memory 606, or within the hardware processor 602 during execution thereof by the machine 600. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 602, the main memory 604, the static memory 606, or the storage device 616 may constitute machine-readable media.

The enhanced sensing device 619 may carry out or perform any of the operations and processes (e.g., process 400) described and shown above.

It is understood that the above are only a subset of what the enhanced sensing device 619 may be configured to perform and that other functions included throughout this disclosure may also be performed by the enhanced sensing device 619.

While the machine-readable medium 622 is illustrated as a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store the one or more instructions 624.

Various embodiments may be implemented fully or partially in software and/or firmware. This software and/or firmware may take the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by one or more processors to enable performance of the operations described herein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but not limited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Such a computer-readable medium may include any tangible non-transitory medium for storing information in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but not limited to read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; a flash memory, etc.

The term “machine-readable medium” may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 600 and that cause the machine 600 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non-limiting machine-readable medium examples may include solid-state memories and optical and magnetic media. In an example, a massed machine-readable medium includes a machine-readable medium with a plurality of particles having resting mass. Specific examples of massed machine-readable media may include non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD- ROM disks.

The instructions 624 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network 626 using a transmission medium via the network interface device/transceiver 620 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communications networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks), plain old telephone (POTS) networks, wireless data networks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards known as WiFiⓇ, IEEE 802.16 family of standards known as WiMaxⓇ), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards, and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, the network interface device/transceiver 620 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communications network 626. In an example, the network interface device/transceiver 620 may include a plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. The term “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 600 and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible media to facilitate communication of such software.

The operations and processes described and shown above may be carried out or performed in any suitable order as desired in various implementations. Additionally, in certain implementations, at least a portion of the operations may be carried out in parallel. Furthermore, in certain implementations, less than or more than the operations described may be performed.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 105A, 105B in accordance with some embodiments that may be implemented in any one of the example APs 102 and/or the example STAs 120 of FIG. 1 . Radio architecture 105A, 105B may include radio front-end module (FEM) circuitry 704 a-b, radio IC circuitry 706 a-b and baseband processing circuitry 1008 a-b. Radio architecture 105A, 105B as shown includes both Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth (BT) functionality although embodiments are not so limited. In this disclosure, “WLAN” and “Wi-Fi” are used interchangeably.

FEM circuitry 704 a-b may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry 704 a and a Bluetooth (BT) FEM circuitry 704 b. The WLAN FEM circuitry 704 a may include a receive signal path comprising circuitry configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 701, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the WLAN radio IC circuitry 706 a for further processing. The BT FEM circuitry 704 b may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 701, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BT radio IC circuitry 706 b for further processing. FEM circuitry 704 a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 706 a for wireless transmission by one or more of the antennas 701. In addition, FEM circuitry 704 b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 706 b for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas. In the embodiment of FIG. 7 , although FEM 704 a and FEM 704 b are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of an FEM (not shown) that includes a transmit path and/or a receive path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more FEM circuitries where at least some of the FEM circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

Radio IC circuitry 706 a-b as shown may include WLAN radio IC circuitry 706 a and BT radio IC circuitry 706 b. The WLAN radio IC circuitry 706 a may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert WLAN RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 704 a and provide baseband signals to WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708 a. BT radio IC circuitry 706 b may in turn include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert BT RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 704 b and provide baseband signals to BT baseband processing circuitry 708 b. WLAN radio IC circuitry 706 a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert WLAN baseband signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708 a and provide WLAN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 704 a for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 701. BT radio IC circuitry 706 b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by the BT baseband processing circuitry 708 b and provide BT RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 704 b for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 701. In the embodiment of FIG. 7 , although radio IC circuitries 706 a and 706 b are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of a radio IC circuitry (not shown) that includes a transmit signal path and/or a receive signal path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more radio IC circuitries where at least some of the radio IC circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

Baseband processing circuity 708 a-b may include a WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708 a and a BT baseband processing circuitry 708 b. The WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708 a may include a memory, such as, for example, a set of RAM arrays in a Fast Fourier Transform or Inverse Fast Fourier Transform block (not shown) of the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708 a. Each of the WLAN baseband circuitry 708 a and the BT baseband circuitry 708 b may further include one or more processors and control logic to process the signals received from the corresponding WLAN or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b, and to also generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b. Each of the baseband processing circuitries 708 a and 708 b may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with a device for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b.

Referring still to FIG. 7 , according to the shown embodiment, WLAN-BT coexistence circuitry 713 may include logic providing an interface between the WLAN baseband circuitry 708 a and the BT baseband circuitry 708 b to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence. In addition, a switch 703 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuitry 704 a and the BT FEM circuitry 704 b to allow switching between the WLAN and BT radios according to application needs. In addition, although the antennas 701 are depicted as being respectively connected to the WLAN FEM circuitry 704 a and the BT FEM circuitry 704 b, embodiments include within their scope the sharing of one or more antennas as between the WLAN and BT FEMs, or the provision of more than one antenna connected to each of FEM 704 a or 704 b.

In some embodiments, the front-end module circuitry 704 a-b, the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b, and baseband processing circuitry 708 a-b may be provided on a single radio card, such as wireless radio card 702. In some other embodiments, the one or more antennas 701, the FEM circuitry 704 a-b and the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b may be provided on a single radio card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b and the baseband processing circuitry 708 a-b may be provided on a single chip or integrated circuit (IC), such as IC 712.

In some embodiments, the wireless radio card 702 may include a WLAN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to receive and transmit orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication signals over a multicarrier communication channel. The OFDM or OFDMA signals may comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

In some of these multicarrier embodiments, radio architecture 105A, 105B may be part of a Wi-Fi communication station (STA) such as a wireless access point (AP), a base station or a mobile device including a Wi-Fi device. In some of these embodiments, radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to transmit and receive signals in accordance with specific communication standards and/or protocols, such as any of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards including, 802.11n-2009, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11-2016, 802.11n-2009, 802.11ac, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay and/or 802.11ax standards and/or proposed specifications for WLANs, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect. Radio architecture 105A, 105B may also be suitable to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques and standards.

In some embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured for high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with the IEEE 802.11ax standard and EHT communications in accordance with the IEEE 802.11be standard. In these embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to communicate in accordance with an OFDMA technique, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some other embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to transmit and receive signals transmitted using one or more other modulation techniques such as spread spectrum modulation (e.g., direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) and/or frequency hopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA)), time-division multiplexing (TDM) modulation, and/or frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) modulation, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, as further shown in FIG. 7 , the BT baseband circuitry 708 b may be compliant with a Bluetooth (BT) connectivity standard such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth 8.0 or Bluetooth 6.0, or any other iteration of the Bluetooth Standard.

In some embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may include other radio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured for cellular (e.g., 5GPP such as LTE, LTE-Advanced or 7G communications).

In some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured for communication over various channel bandwidths including bandwidths having center frequencies of about 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, and bandwidths of about 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, 5.5 MHz, 6 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz (with contiguous bandwidths) or 80+80 MHz (160 MHz) (with non-contiguous bandwidths). In some embodiments, a 920 MHz channel bandwidth may be used. The scope of the embodiments is not limited with respect to the above center frequencies however.

FIG. 8 illustrates WLAN FEM circuitry 804 a in accordance with some embodiments. Although the example of FIG. 8 is described in conjunction with the WLAN FEM circuitry 704 a, the example of FIG. 8 may be described in conjunction with the example BT FEM circuitry 704 b (FIG. 7 ), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 704 a may include a TX/RX switch 802 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 704 a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 704 a may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) 806 to amplify received RF signals 803 and provide the amplified received RF signals 807 as an output (e.g., to the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b (FIG. 7 )). The transmit signal path of the circuitry 704 a may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals 809 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b), and one or more filters 812, such as band-pass filters (BPFs), low-pass filters (LPFs) or other types of filters, to generate RF signals 815 for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antennas 701 (FIG. 7 )) via an example duplexer 814.

In some dual-mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communication, the FEM circuitry 704 a may be configured to operate in the 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum, the 5 GHz frequency spectrum, and/or the 6 GHz frequency spectrum. In these embodiments, the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 704 a may include a receive signal path duplexer 804 to separate the signals from each spectrum as well as provide a separate LNA 806 for each spectrum as shown. In these embodiments, the transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 704 a may also include a power amplifier 810 and a filter 812, such as a BPF, an LPF or another type of filter for each frequency spectrum and a transmit signal path duplexer 804 to provide the signals of one of the different spectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent transmission by the one or more of the antennas 701 (FIG. 7 ). In some embodiments, BT communications may utilize the 2.4 GHz signal paths and may utilize the same FEM circuitry 704 a as the one used for WLAN communications.

FIG. 9 illustrates radio IC circuitry 706 a in accordance with some embodiments. The radio IC circuitry 706 a is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN or BT radio IC circuitry 706 a/706 b (FIG. 7 ), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, the example of FIG. 9 may be described in conjunction with the example BT radio IC circuitry 706 b.

In some embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 706 a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706 a may include at least mixer circuitry 902, such as, for example, down-conversion mixer circuitry, amplifier circuitry 906 and filter circuitry 908. The transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706 a may include at least filter circuitry 912 and mixer circuitry 914, such as, for example, up-conversion mixer circuitry. Radio IC circuitry 706 a may also include synthesizer circuitry 904 for synthesizing a frequency 905 for use by the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914. The mixer circuitry 902 and/or 914 may each, according to some embodiments, be configured to provide direct conversion functionality. The latter type of circuitry presents a much simpler architecture as compared with standard super-heterodyne mixer circuitries, and any flicker noise brought about by the same may be alleviated for example through the use of OFDM modulation. FIG. 9 illustrates only a simplified version of a radio IC circuitry, and may include, although not shown, embodiments where each of the depicted circuitries may include more than one component. For instance, mixer circuitry 914 may each include one or more mixers, and filter circuitries 908 and/or 912 may each include one or more filters, such as one or more BPFs and/or LPFs according to application needs. For example, when mixer circuitries are of the direct-conversion type, they may each include two or more mixers.

In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 902 may be configured to down-convert RF signals 807 received from the FEM circuitry 704 a-b (FIG. 7 ) based on the synthesized frequency 905 provided by synthesizer circuitry 904. The amplifier circuitry 906 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 908 may include an LPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals 907. Output baseband signals 907 may be provided to the baseband processing circuitry 708 a-b (FIG. 7 ) for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 907 may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 902 may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 914 may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals 911 based on the synthesized frequency 905 provided by the synthesizer circuitry 904 to generate RF output signals 809 for the FEM circuitry 704 a-b. The baseband signals 911 may be provided by the baseband processing circuitry 708 a-b and may be filtered by filter circuitry 912. The filter circuitry 912 may include an LPF or a BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914 may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up-conversion respectively with the help of synthesizer 904. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914 may each include two or more mixers each configured for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914 may be arranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914 may be configured for super-heterodyne operation, although this is not a requirement.

Mixer circuitry 902 may comprise, according to one embodiment: quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) paths). In such an embodiment, RF input signal 807 from FIG. 8 may be down-converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent to the baseband processor.

Quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero and ninety-degree time-varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuitry which may be configured to receive a LO frequency (fLO) from a local oscillator or a synthesizer, such as LO frequency 905 of synthesizer 904 (FIG. 9 ). In some embodiments, the LO frequency may be the carrier frequency, while in other embodiments, the LO frequency may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the zero and ninety-degree time-varying switching signals may be generated by the synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the LO signals may differ in duty cycle (the percentage of one period in which the LO signal is high) and/or offset (the difference between start points of the period). In some embodiments, the LO signals may have an 85% duty cycle and an 80% offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuitry (e.g., the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) path) may operate at an 80% duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction is power consumption.

The RF input signal 807 (FIG. 8 ) may comprise a balanced signal, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to low-noise amplifier, such as amplifier circuitry 906 (FIG. 9 ) or to filter circuitry 908 (FIG. 9 ).

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 907 and the input baseband signals 911 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals 907 and the input baseband signals 911 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the radio IC circuitry may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, or for other spectrums not mentioned here, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 904 may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 904 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According to some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 904 may include digital synthesizer circuitry. An advantage of using a digital synthesizer circuitry is that, although it may still include some analog components, its footprint may be scaled down much more than the footprint of an analog synthesizer circuitry. In some embodiments, frequency input into synthesizer circuity 904 may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. A divider control input may further be provided by either the baseband processing circuitry 708 a-b (FIG. 7 ) depending on the desired output frequency 905. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on a channel number and a channel center frequency as determined or indicated by the example application processor 710. The application processor 710 may include, or otherwise be connected to, one of the example secure signal converter 101 or the example received signal converter 103 (e.g., depending on which device the example radio architecture is implemented in).

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 904 may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 905, while in other embodiments, the output frequency 905 may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 905 may be a LO frequency (fLO).

FIG. 10 illustrates a functional block diagram of baseband processing circuitry 708 a in accordance with some embodiments. The baseband processing circuitry 708 a is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the baseband processing circuitry 708 a (FIG. 7 ), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, the example of FIG. 9 may be used to implement the example BT baseband processing circuitry 708 b of FIG. 7 .

The baseband processing circuitry 708 a may include a receive baseband processor (RX BBP) 1002 for processing receive baseband signals 909 provided by the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b (FIG. 7 ) and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 1004 for generating transmit baseband signals 911 for the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b. The baseband processing circuitry 708 a may also include control logic 1006 for coordinating the operations of the baseband processing circuitry 708 a.

In some embodiments (e.g., when analog baseband signals are exchanged between the baseband processing circuitry 708 a-b and the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b), the baseband processing circuitry 708 a may include ADC 1010 to convert analog baseband signals 1009 received from the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b to digital baseband signals for processing by the RX BBP 1002. In these embodiments, the baseband processing circuitry 708 a may also include DAC 1012 to convert digital baseband signals from the TX BBP 1004 to analog baseband signals 1011.

In some embodiments that communicate OFDM signals or OFDMA signals, such as through baseband processor 708 a, the transmit baseband processor 1004 may be configured to generate OFDM or OFDMA signals as appropriate for transmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). The receive baseband processor 1002 may be configured to process received OFDM signals or OFDMA signals by performing an FFT. In some embodiments, the receive baseband processor 1002 may be configured to detect the presence of an OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing an autocorrelation, to detect a preamble, such as a short preamble, and by performing a cross-correlation, to detect a long preamble. The preambles may be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication.

Referring back to FIG. 7 , in some embodiments, the antennas 701 (FIG. 7 ) may each comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result. Antennas 701 may each include a set of phased-array antennas, although embodiments are not so limited.

Although the radio architecture 105A, 105B is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The terms “computing device,” “user device,” “communication station,” “station,” “handheld device,” “mobile device,” “wireless device” and “user equipment” (UE) as used herein refers to a wireless communication device such as a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, a printer, a point of sale device, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device. The device may be either mobile or stationary.

As used within this document, the term “communicate” is intended to include transmitting, or receiving, or both transmitting and receiving. This may be particularly useful in claims when describing the organization of data that is being transmitted by one device and received by another, but only the functionality of one of those devices is required to infringe the claim. Similarly, the bidirectional exchange of data between two devices (both devices transmit and receive during the exchange) may be described as “communicating,” when only the functionality of one of those devices is being claimed. The term “communicating” as used herein with respect to a wireless communication signal includes transmitting the wireless communication signal and/or receiving the wireless communication signal. For example, a wireless communication unit, which is capable of communicating a wireless communication signal, may include a wireless transmitter to transmit the wireless communication signal to at least one other wireless communication unit, and/or a wireless communication receiver to receive the wireless communication signal from at least one other wireless communication unit.

As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the use of the ordinal adjectives “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., to describe a common object, merely indicates that different instances of like objects are being referred to and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.

The term “access point” (AP) as used herein may be a fixed station. An access point may also be referred to as an access node, a base station, an evolved node B (eNodeB), or some other similar terminology known in the art. An access terminal may also be called a mobile station, user equipment (UE), a wireless communication device, or some other similar terminology known in the art. Embodiments disclosed herein generally pertain to wireless networks. Some embodiments may relate to wireless networks that operate in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 standards.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems, for example, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumer device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communication station, a wireless communication device, a wireless access point (AP), a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device, an audio device, an audio-video (A/V) device, a wired or wireless network, a wireless area network, a wireless video area network (WVAN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a personal area network (PAN), a wireless PAN (WPAN), and the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one way and/or two-way radio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communication systems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, a personal communication system (PCS) device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable global positioning system (GPS) device, a device which incorporates a GPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFID element or chip, a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transceiver or device, a single input multiple output (SIMO) transceiver or device, a multiple input single output (MISO) transceiver or device, a device having one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas, digital video broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multistandard radio devices or systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a smartphone, a wireless application protocol (WAP) device, or the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types of wireless communication signals and/or systems following one or more wireless communication protocols, for example, radio frequency (RF), infrared (IR), frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM (OFDM), time-division multiplexing (TDM), time-division multiple access (TDMA), extended TDMA (E-TDMA), general packet radio service (GPRS), extended GPRS, code-division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier modulation (MDM), discrete multi-tone (DMT), BluetoothⓇ, global positioning system (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee, ultra-wideband (UWB), global system for mobile communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, fifth generation (5G) mobile networks, 3GPP, long term evolution (LTE), LTE advanced, enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), or the like. Other embodiments may be used in various other devices, systems, and/or networks.

The following examples pertain to further embodiments.

Embodiments according to the disclosure are in particular disclosed in the attached claims directed to a method, a storage medium, a device and a computer program product, wherein any feature mentioned in one claim category, e.g., method, can be claimed in another claim category, e.g., system, as well. The dependencies or references back in the attached claims are chosen for formal reasons only. However, any subject matter resulting from a deliberate reference back to any previous claims (in particular multiple dependencies) can be claimed as well, so that any combination of claims and the features thereof are disclosed and can be claimed regardless of the dependencies chosen in the attached claims. The subject-matter which can be claimed comprises not only the combinations of features as set out in the attached claims but also any other combination of features in the claims, wherein each feature mentioned in the claims can be combined with any other feature or combination of other features in the claims. Furthermore, any of the embodiments and features described or depicted herein can be claimed in a separate claim and/or in any combination with any embodiment or feature described or depicted herein or with any of the features of the attached claims.

The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Various examples of the present disclosure are provided below.

Example 1 may include an access point device for initiating a responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing between station devices, the access point device comprising processing circuitry coupled to memory, the processing circuitry configured to: cause to send, during a polling phase of responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing, a sensing polling trigger frame to Wi-Fi sensing responder station devices comprising a first station device and a second station device; identify a first clear-to-send received, during the polling phase, from the first station device based on the sensing polling trigger frame; identify a second clear-to-send received, during the polling phase, from the second station device based on the sensing polling trigger frame; cause to send, during a trigger frame sounding phase of the responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing, a sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame to the first station device and the second station device, the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame associated with causing the first station device to send a responder-to-responder null data packet (NDP) to the second station device; cause to send, during a reporting phase of the responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing, a sensing report trigger frame to the second station device; and identify, during the reporting phase, a sensing measurement report from the second station device based on the sensing report trigger frame, wherein the sensing measurement report is indicative of measurements of the responder-to-responder NDP.

Example 2 may include the access point device of example 1 and/or any other example herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: cause to send, during a sensing measurement setup phase prior to the polling phase, a first sensing measurement setup request to the first station device, the first sensing measurement setup request indicating that the first station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device; identify, during the sensing measurement setup phase, a first sensing measurement setup response received from the first station device, the first sensing measurement setup response indicating that the first station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device; cause to send, during the sensing measurement setup phase, a second sensing measurement setup request to the second station device, the second sensing measurement setup request indicating that the second station device is to measure the responder-to-responder NDP; and identify, during the sensing measurement setup phase, a second sensing measurement setup response received from the second station device, the second sensing measurement setup response indicating that the second station device is to send the sensing measurement report.

Example 3 may include the access point device of example 2 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first sensing measurement setup request, the second sensing measurement setup request, the first sensing measurement setup response, and the second sensing measurement setup response comprise a measurement setup identifier associated with the responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing.

Example 4 may include the access point device of example 2 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first sensing measurement setup request comprises a sensing transmitter field set to 1 and a sensing receiver field set to 0 to indicate that the first station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device.

Example 5 may include the access point device of example 2 and/or any other example herein, wherein the second sensing measurement setup request comprises a sensing transmitter field set to 0 and a sensing receiver field set to 1 to indicate that the second station device is to measure the responder-to-responder NDP.

Example 6 may include the access point device of example 2 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first sensing measurement setup request comprises an indication of a bandwidth associated with the trigger frame sounding phase.

Example 7 may include the access point device of example 6 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first sensing measurement setup response comprises an indication of a second bandwidth associated with the trigger frame sounding phase, wherein the trigger frame sounding phase uses the second bandwidth.

Example 8 may include the access point device of example 1 and/or any other example herein, wherein the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame uses an 802.11 ranging trigger frame format comprising a sensing trigger frame variant indicator.

Example 9 may include the access point device of example 8 and/or any other example herein, wherein the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame further comprises a trigger dependent common information field indicating a sensing trigger frame variant.

Example 10 may include the access point device of example 8 and/or any other example herein, wherein the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame further comprises a user information field comprising an indication of a responder-to-responder sounding variant.

Example 11 may include a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to cause processing circuitry of a station device for responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing between station devices, upon execution of the instructions by the processing circuitry, to: identify a sensing polling trigger frame received from an access point during a polling phase of responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing; cause to send, during the polling phase, based on the sensing polling trigger frame, a clear-to-send to the access point; identify a sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame received from the access point during a trigger frame sounding phase; and cause to send, during the trigger frame sounding phase, based on the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame, a responder-to-responder null data packet (NDP) to a second station device for measurements associated with the responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing.

Example 12 may include the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of example 11 and/or any other example herein, where execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to: identify, during a sensing measurement setup phase prior to the polling phase, a first sensing measurement setup request received from the access point, the first sensing measurement setup request indicating that the station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device; and cause to send, during the sensing measurement setup phase, a first sensing measurement setup response to the access point, the first sensing measurement setup response indicating that the station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device.

Example 13 may include the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of example 12 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first sensing measurement setup request and the first sensing measurement setup response comprise a measurement setup identifier associated with the responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing.

Example 14 may include the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of example 13 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first sensing measurement setup request comprises a sensing transmitter field set to 1 and a sensing receiver field set to 0 to indicate that the station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device.

Example 15 may include the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of example 12 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first sensing measurement setup request comprises an indication of a bandwidth associated with the trigger frame sounding phase.

Example 16 may include the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of example 15 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first sensing measurement setup response comprises an indication of a second bandwidth associated with the trigger frame sounding phase, wherein the trigger frame sounding phase uses the second bandwidth.

Example 17 may include the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of example 11 and/or any other example herein, wherein the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame uses an 802.11 ranging trigger frame format comprising a sensing trigger frame variant indicator.

Example 18 may include the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of example 17 and/or any other example herein, wherein the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame further comprises a trigger dependent common information field indicating a sensing trigger frame variant.

Example 19 may include the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of example 17 and/or any other example herein, wherein the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame further comprises a user information field comprising an indication of a responder-to-responder sounding variant.

Example 20 may include a method for responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing between station devices, the method comprising: identifying, by processing circuitry of a first station device, a sensing polling trigger frame received from an access point during a polling phase of responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing; causing to send, by the processing circuitry, during the polling phase, based on the sensing polling trigger frame, a clear-to-send to the access point; identify, by the processing circuitry, a sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame received from the access point during a trigger frame sounding phase; and causing to send, by the processing circuitry, during the trigger frame sounding phase, based on the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame, a responder-to-responder null data packet (NDP) to a second station device for measurements associated with the responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing.

Example 21 may include the method of example 20 and/or any other example herein, further comprising: identifying, during a sensing measurement setup phase prior to the polling phase, a first sensing measurement setup request received from the access point, the first sensing measurement setup request indicating that the first station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device; and cause to send, during the sensing measurement setup phase, a first sensing measurement setup response to the access point, the first sensing measurement setup response indicating that the first station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device.

Example 22 may include the method of example 21 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first sensing measurement setup request and the first sensing measurement setup response comprise a measurement setup identifier associated with the responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing.

Example 23 may include the method of example 22 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first sensing measurement setup request comprises a sensing transmitter field set to 1 and a sensing receiver field set to 0 to indicate that the first station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device.

Example 24 may include the method of example 22 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first sensing measurement setup request comprises an indication of a bandwidth associated with the trigger frame sounding phase.

Example 25 may include the method of example 24 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first sensing measurement setup response comprises an indication of a second bandwidth associated with the trigger frame sounding phase, wherein the trigger frame sounding phase uses the second.

Example 26 may include an apparatus comprising means for: causing to send, during a sensing measurement setup phase prior to the polling phase, a first sensing measurement setup request to the first station device, the first sensing measurement setup request indicating that the first station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device; identifying, during the sensing measurement setup phase, a first sensing measurement setup response received from the first station device, the first sensing measurement setup response indicating that the first station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device; causing to send, during the sensing measurement setup phase, a second sensing measurement setup request to the second station device, the second sensing measurement setup request indicating that the second station device is to measure the responder-to-responder NDP; and identifying, during the sensing measurement setup phase, a second sensing measurement setup response received from the second station device, the second sensing measurement setup response indicating that the second station device is to send the sensing measurement report.

Example 27 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-26, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 28 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, and/or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-26, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 29 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-26, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 30 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-26, or portions thereof.

Example 31 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

Example 32 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

Example 33 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

Certain aspects of the disclosure are described above with reference to block and flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and/or computer program products according to various implementations. It will be understood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and the flow diagrams, respectively, may be implemented by computer-executable program instructions. Likewise, some blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams may not necessarily need to be performed in the order presented, or may not necessarily need to be performed at all, according to some implementations.

These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto a special-purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particular machine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer, processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable storage media or memory that may direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage media produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. As an example, certain implementations may provide for a computer program product, comprising a computer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program code or program instructions implemented therein, said computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational elements or steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide elements or steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams support combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functions and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flow diagrams, may be implemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computer systems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, or combinations of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain implementations could include, while other implementations do not include, certain features, elements, and/or operations. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or operations are in any way required for one or more implementations or that one or more implementations necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements, and/or operations are included or are to be performed in any particular implementation.

Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forth herein will be apparent having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific implementations disclosed and that modifications and other implementations are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An access point device for initiating a responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing between station devices, the access point device comprising processing circuitry coupled to memory, the processing circuitry configured to: cause to send, during a polling phase of responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing, a sensing polling trigger frame to Wi-Fi sensing responder station devices comprising a first station device and a second station device; identify a first clear-to-send received, during the polling phase, from the first station device based on the sensing polling trigger frame; identify a second clear-to-send received, during the polling phase, from the second station device based on the sensing polling trigger frame; cause to send, during a trigger frame sounding phase of the responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing, a sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame to the first station device and the second station device, the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame associated with causing the first station device to send a responder-to-responder null data packet (NDP) to the second station device; cause to send, during a reporting phase of the responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing, a sensing report trigger frame to the second station device; and identify, during the reporting phase, a sensing measurement report from the second station device based on the sensing report trigger frame, wherein the sensing measurement report is indicative of measurements of the responder-to-responder NDP.
 2. The access point device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: cause to send, during a sensing measurement setup phase prior to the polling phase, a first sensing measurement setup request to the first station device, the first sensing measurement setup request indicating that the first station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device; identify, during the sensing measurement setup phase, a first sensing measurement setup response received from the first station device, the first sensing measurement setup response indicating that the first station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device; cause to send, during the sensing measurement setup phase, a second sensing measurement setup request to the second station device, the second sensing measurement setup request indicating that the second station device is to measure the responder-to-responder NDP; and identify, during the sensing measurement setup phase, a second sensing measurement setup response received from the second station device, the second sensing measurement setup response indicating that the second station device is to send the sensing measurement report.
 3. The access point device of claim 2, wherein the first sensing measurement setup request, the second sensing measurement setup request, the first sensing measurement setup response, and the second sensing measurement setup response comprise a measurement setup identifier associated with the responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing.
 4. The access point device of claim 2, wherein the first sensing measurement setup request comprises a sensing transmitter field set to 1 and a sensing receiver field set to 0 to indicate that the first station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device.
 5. The access point device of claim 2, wherein the second sensing measurement setup request comprises a sensing transmitter field set to 0 and a sensing receiver field set to 1 to indicate that the second station device is to measure the responder-to-responder NDP.
 6. The access point device of claim 2, wherein the first sensing measurement setup request comprises an indication of a bandwidth associated with the trigger frame sounding phase.
 7. The access point device of claim 6, wherein the first sensing measurement setup response comprises an indication of a second bandwidth associated with the trigger frame sounding phase, wherein the trigger frame sounding phase uses the second bandwidth.
 8. The access point device of claim 1, wherein the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame uses an 802.11 ranging trigger frame format comprising a sensing trigger frame variant indicator.
 9. The access point device of claim 8, wherein the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame further comprises a trigger dependent common information field indicating a sensing trigger frame variant.
 10. The access point device of claim 8, wherein the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame further comprises a user information field comprising an indication of a responder-to-responder sounding variant.
 11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to cause processing circuitry of a station device for responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing between station devices, upon execution of the instructions by the processing circuitry, to: identify a sensing polling trigger frame received from an access point during a polling phase of responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing; cause to send, during the polling phase, based on the sensing polling trigger frame, a clear-to-send to the access point; identify a sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame received from the access point during a trigger frame sounding phase; and cause to send, during the trigger frame sounding phase, based on the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame, a responder-to-responder null data packet (NDP) to a second station device for measurements associated with the responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, where execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to: identify, during a sensing measurement setup phase prior to the polling phase, a first sensing measurement setup request received from the access point, the first sensing measurement setup request indicating that the station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device; and cause to send, during the sensing measurement setup phase, a first sensing measurement setup response to the access point, the first sensing measurement setup response indicating that the station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the first sensing measurement setup request and the first sensing measurement setup response comprise a measurement setup identifier associated with the responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the first sensing measurement setup request comprises a sensing transmitter field set to 1 and a sensing receiver field set to 0 to indicate that the station device is to send the responder-to-responder NDP to the second station device.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the first sensing measurement setup request comprises an indication of a bandwidth associated with the trigger frame sounding phase.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the first sensing measurement setup response comprises an indication of a second bandwidth associated with the trigger frame sounding phase, wherein the trigger frame sounding phase uses the second bandwidth.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame uses an 802.11 ranging trigger frame format comprising a sensing trigger frame variant indicator.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame further comprises a trigger dependent common information field indicating a sensing trigger frame variant.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame further comprises a user information field comprising an indication of a responder-to-responder sounding variant.
 20. A method for responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing between station devices, the method comprising: identifying, by processing circuitry of a first station device, a sensing polling trigger frame received from an access point during a polling phase of responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing; causing to send, by the processing circuitry, during the polling phase, based on the sensing polling trigger frame, a clear-to-send to the access point; identify, by the processing circuitry, a sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame received from the access point during a trigger frame sounding phase; and causing to send, by the processing circuitry, during the trigger frame sounding phase, based on the sensing responder-to-responder sounding trigger frame, a responder-to-responder null data packet (NDP) to a second station device for measurements associated with the responder-to-responder Wi-Fi sensing. 